Wednesday storms bring a new round of damage

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) -

A new round of storms rolled through Lubbock Wednesday and left many people with more property damage. Around Lubbock, trees were down, decorative pots were broken, and backyard furniture was on it's side, but that damage was light compared to some.

One man had a shed in his backyard catch fire when lightning hit a nearby tree, igniting it. The fire in the tree then burned through the power lines above it, which caught the shed on fire.

LP&L public information officer Chris Sims says during peak outage season, his company is doing everything it can to help those without power.

"When we have a storm come in we have to start notifying crews to be on call in case we have a big lightning event or something really severe like it."

He says LP&L have to be prepared year round for three major weather events: "If we have a lot of ice or a lot of lightning or if we have a weather system from the northeast."

But why a system from the northeast? Chris says this is a fact that many people don't know.

"Since our prevailing winds come out of the south and southwest the poles are used to bending that way. So when we have winds come out of the northeast which doesn't happen very often the poles go back the other way so you have a lot of motion there and that creates some problems."

Things outside aren't the only worry during a severe storm. Electronic items inside are at risk as well, but people can protect against that happening to them.

"One of the things that we recommend is a simple - and they're relatively cheap - ground fault circuit interrupter. Not just a traditional a power strip but one that costs a few dollars more and has a circuit interrupter ... I use them on my own equipment at my home."

The interrupter shuts itself off when it senses a surge in electricity, protecting whichever item it is connected to it from breaking.

If you are curious about where power is out in Lubbock, or if people are on scene to fix it, there is a place you can go.

"When you visit lpandl.com you'll see a link there that says electric outage map. Just click on that. You may not have electricity at your home, but many of us carry smart phones and if you can get to the Internet you can see that you can kind of see where the outages are at."

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